Mass in B Minor essay

Mass is a type of musical composition which is sacred in nature according to the Catholic Church. It is a choral composition that is used in the church by the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran liturgy and the Anglican Communion in music. It is also called communion service mass service. In most cases, masses follow the Latin order especially in the Roman Catholic Church where the traditional language is significant. This language has been a norm in non catholic nations where the vernacular worship has become a norm to many people.Masses can be for human voices only (a cappella) or it can be accompanied by some musical instruments (obbligatos) such as complete orchestra. The most recent masses were never meant to be performed during the celebration of the mass but in the past, it was compulsory to make the mass or service livelier. A full mass composition must contain the following parts for it to constitute an ordinary mass: kyrie and Gloria. It is a prayer for the Lord to have mercy on His people. This is from an ancient Greek language in the biblical New Testament. It has a structure that reflects the symmetric of the text in concision (Butt 36).Gloria is praise to God in a mass which is considered as a celebratory passage where God is glorified as being in the highest sit on heaven and earth. God is being praised, blessed, adored, worshipped and given thanks. Mass setting is normally in English for the Church of England as contained in the Book of Common Prayer for liturgy. It is considered as the last movement though it is restored to its earlier place in one of the new common worship liturgy in the church mass.Credo is a Latin word in a setting of the Nicene Creed and it is the longest song to be sung during the mass. The Vatican council has stopped the composition of melodies to credo in the vernacular languages. This was ignored by the second Vatican council and it has remained to be in the books of mass for a long period of time. The Rome has encouraged the organizers of the international celebrations such as the World Youth Day to familiarize themselves with the Latin recitation of the Our Father and the credo itself (Stauffer 36).

The main reason for singing or chanting this credo in Latin is to encourage and maintain a sense of unity in the faithful where every one is expected to sing the prayer of Jesus and to share the believe of the universal catholic church in the whole world. The credo was written in both English and Latin. It was written like a poem, it says;I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,Maker of heavens and earth, and visible and invisible things;And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of the father before all the people of the world who was a God of gods, light of the world and a true God.He was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buriedBach started composing this work in the early 18th century. He started by writing polyphonic versions of the ordinary credo in 1749 just before his death in 1950. The reason for him writing is not known but it is believed that there was a shortage of new music in the church because many composers were moving to compose secular music which led to a decline in the sacred music composition. The ordinary or non-changing of the mass could now have some music to perform available at that time. The Apt Codex and Ivrea Codex were the first or the primary sources of polyphonic settings in the ordinary mass. Most of these compositions were written at the papal court at Avignon. The work was his last though some changes have been made to the present. His work also dated back 1724 when he was collecting information for Gloria and Kyrie for Lutheran Mass in 1933.According to Bach it takes BWV 232 to perform a complete mass. This was a Latin mass by Johnn Sebastian Bach also called Bach's Catholic Mass. Bach in 1733 had been in the Saxton town of Leipzig for ten years where he had seen the composition of church cantatas five cycles in complete; the St. john and St. Mathew Passions plus many orchestral pieces even though he still felt unappreciated and conflicted over fee issue with most of his employees despite all the musical productivity he had achieved. In early 1733, the King of Poland, Augustus II, and elector of Saxony died and the whole country went into mourning for the next five months which led to the suspension of making music on a temporary basis.

During this period, Bach used it to compose Missa. He aimed at dedicating the piece of work to the new King, Augustus III, who was a Catholic. His main agenda was to develop his own standing. After completing the piece, he visited the King in order to present him the piece personally so he could be able to present his petition of being given a title (court). This title was not granted to him immediately, but eventually he earned it and was made the court composer in 1736 (Butt 38). In 1733 was the year in which the first performance of Missa which consisted of Kyrie and Gloria settings was done in the Oath of Allegiance to Augustus III. The Mass in B minor assumed its final shape in his last years most probably in the year 1748. It is assumed that he intended to use parts of the Mass when the time was appropriate.Bach composed Mass in B Minor bearing in mind that the approach used is not merely artistic in nature, but an icon that represented the religious object that was crafted so as to be the divine worship and instruction guide. He saw his Mass as the opportunity granted to him by the Supreme Being to unite his Christian creed with his musical creed in a single proclamation. Icon in this case refers to the type of artistic expression of people who are very capable of devotion and of a practical nature comprehensible to the minds of westerners. Bach was able to shape a coherent movement sequence of diverse materials whether intentional or not.Confiteor and et expecto resurrection texts are a penitential prayer that acknowledges our sins and is a way of seeking mercy and forgiveness from God. They have been in use since time in memorial in the era of Christian's. As noted by one St. Augustine, when it was being recited traditionally, the beast was struck to show that they were humble. Today during Mass people did custom to the traditional ways. Confiteor was composed partially in the 8th century and was later added to the Mass in the 11th century. Paul VI uses a shortened version of the Confiteor.Bach used prosaic terms to describe his musical achievements which were able to capture his craftsman like attitude. Bach mechanism of music ensured their own transformation thus it included themes, implications for development and elaboration. For example, in a concerto the theme might include the constituent parts of the theme when they are transposed to a relative minor key (Stauffer 44). These implications are part of the inventions and they are what made him come up with such inventions. Bach's work differs greatly from the works of the contemporary musicians both in quality and kind thus he was fairly typical of his day. Bach was very thorough when it came to elaborating his inventions. Bach viewed art as an individual's sense making concerning the world and him. Bach's thoughts in music were necessary belief consequences in their originality.The orchestra has been divided into four groups of instruments namely; strings, woodwinds, brass, and the percussion. The modern orchestra has four stringed instruments: the violin, viola, cello, and the bass. The woodwind has the flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon depending on the size and piece being played the numbers vary. The brass on the other hand, is all made of metals namely: trumpet, French horn, trombone, and tuba which have vary numbers of instruments in the orchestra depending on the size and type of piece being played. Lastly, in the percussion sector we have the timpani (large kettledrums), side drum, tenor drum, bass drum which is large, cymbals and gongs.